TBR: #CramAThon Winter 2016

Now that I am done with my exam I can finally get back to writing on this blog without feeling guilty about not doing university stuff and getting anxiety attacks as a result. I will try to get better at queuing up some posts so this will not happen again in January when I have another exam coming.

I have gotten my nose out of all the study books and now it is time… to put my nose into more books.

This is a TBR for #CramAThon, a readathon on Youtube, hosted by Aprilius Maximus and WhittyNovels and it is created in order to help people complete their reading goals before the year ends. It takes place from December 16 12 AM to December 23rd 11:59 PM. The challenges are as follows:

1. Read a book under 200 pages2. Read 2 books in 24 hours3. Read a book set in a different country than where you live4. Read a book you’ve been putting off/have been meaning to read forever 5. Read a book with pictures 6. Read a graphic novel7. Read 7 books

Okay, I am going to be honest: I am not finishing all of these challenges for a couple of reasons

I still have stuff to do before Christmas comes around so I do not expect myself to be able to finish 7 books in a week and I think that is fine.

Some of the books I want to read are HUMONGOUS, but has to be returned to the library soon – cannot be renewed – and I want to finish them now that I have time, so the others will have to be of a lower priority.

But I will try to follow some of the challenges and then do my best to read as much outside of those challenges to make up for the challenges I will not be able to make. Here are the challenges I will cover:

Book under 200 pagesI have this small Ryunosuke Akutagawa collection which is called Helvedesskærmen (Danish for Hell Screen) 59 pages. It contains three of his short stories, Hell Screen, Rashomon and The Spider’s Thread. I bought because of the Rashomon story, as I know it has been adapted into a film by Akira Kurosawa and it is among the greatest films in the world, included on several lists. I also got it because it was translated directly from Japanese and not from Japanese to English to Danish, which I often see with older Danish versions of Japanese books. I have had it since summer and it is time to read it.

Read a book set in a different country than where you liveSeeing that I live in Denmark, it is really not hard for me to find a book that does not take place here. I decided to go ALL the way though – I am reading Tale of Genji by Lady Murasaki for this challenge. It is massive and in two volumes, 1124 pages in total, but it has to be returned to the library on December 21 and I want to be able to write an article about Shikibu and Tale of Genji for my volunteer job at Littuna.nu. Fear not, I will be writing about it here too.

Read a book you’ve been putting off/have been meaning to readforeverShylock is my name by Howard Jacobson, because I have to do a review of it for Littuna.nu and I want to read it so badly. It is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series and I am looking forward to it.

Read a graphic novelAt the moment I have Barbara Stok’s Vincent at home from the library and this would be a great opportunity to read it. Who would not want to read a graphic novel about Vincent van Gogh?

Read a book with picturesAnother book I just happened to have at home when deciding: Sarah Andersen’s Adulthood is a Myth. I have been following Sarah Andersen’s comics for years on Twitter and Instagram, and they always crack me up because they are hilarious and so relatable. So when I found out I could order it at the library, I had to go for it.

To be fair I should be able to finish the Akutagawa collection and Sarah Andersen comics in 24 hours, but Tale of Genji is the main priority here, as it has to be returned sooner than the rest. Until I finish that giant I am going to hold off on the rest. That might mean I will not finish the rest in time, but I do not care because I have been wanting to read Murasaki’s work for years now. It took a couple of months for it to arrive at the library and I am not going to sit down and wait for it to arrive again as it will probably collide with my next semester starting like last time when it arrived. I have to do it now.
Furthermore, the rest of the books will have been read by the end of December.

Are you participating in the CramAThon and if so, what are you going to read? Happy readings, everyone!